Looking for opportunities in this changing world

[Greg Kimball]

Back in my younger days, I worked in the trades, roofing, siding, carpentry, plumbing, etc. I went back to school in the early 90s and have been working in IT ever since. Through the years, I've owned several homes and done a lot of work on each one. I've always had a love for doing home improvements on my properties as well as those of friends and family members. I have a great job in IT with a well known company and have been working from home since mid-March. As many companies have discovered, people can be as productive, if not more so, working remotely. My company has decided to allow all IT employees to work remotely indefinitely. Given that this is my new reality, I gave my home office a complete makeover and it came out great. It also got me thinking that there isn't much left to do to my current home, I love living here and plan to stay here but with my new found flexibility, my desire for a new project and some money in the bank, maybe it's time to look for a property to renovate. I live in Northern Virginia, about 30 miles west of Washington D.C. and have decided to start exploring towns within a three hour drive for a property to make my new project. I've begun looking at properties in Central and Southern VA, Maryland and Southern PA but I realize I need to decide on a specific area. I've not only been looking at properties but also researching demographics and market trends in trying to determine where to focus. My intent is to split my time living between my current home and my project property as I renovate since I can continue my full time IT job remotely as long as I have internet. What I do with the property when I'm done depends on the property. I'll most likely sell if it's single family and probably will rent if it's a multi-unit property. If all goes well, I'll move on to my next. My question is how have others made the decision on location in their search for properties to renovate?